When the Appeals Council (AC) grants a request for review or reviews a
case on its own motion, it may remand the case to an administrative law
judge (ALJ) for further proceedings. See
20 CFR 404.967
and 416.1467, as
well as Hearings, Appeals and Litigation Law (HALLEX) manual
I-3-0-10. For the bases for an
AC grant review action, see HALLEX
I-3-3-1.

In most cases, the AC will vacate an ALJ's decision in its entirety when
it remands a case. This action requires that an ALJ issue a new decision
in the case. When remanding a case, the AC may also direct an ALJ to take
certain actions, such as developing additional evidence or holding a
supplemental hearing.

However, the AC does not always vacate an ALJ decision in its entirety
when remanding a case. For example, the AC may decide not to vacate the
entire ALJ decision in the following situations:

If the AC agrees with the favorable conclusion in a partially favorable
ALJ decision but a reason for granting review is also present, the AC may
decide to issue a combined Affirmation/Remand Order. When this occurs, the
AC will remand a portion of the decision to the ALJ while simultaneously
sending the affirmed favorable decision to the effectuating component for
the payment of benefits.

When the AC reviews a concurrent claim and finds the decision for one
title is supported by substantial evidence but the decision for the other
title is not, the AC may: (1) Issue a notice denying the request for
review for the supported claim and issue an order remanding the
unsupported claim; or (2) In own motion cases, issue a combined
Affirmation/Remand Order.

The AC will grant review and may remand a case to an ALJ if it finds
significant evidentiary or procedural deficiencies. For example, the AC
may remand a case when:

The ALJ decision contains an error of law (see HALLEX
I-3-3-3 and
I-3-7-14);